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Thursday, 30 April 2009

There are many signs of spring....here a few pictures that I took on my walk Monday afternoon.

For me growing up on a farm a definite sign of spring besides the song birds singing, longer day light hours, snow melting is new born calves.

I remember when I was a little girl, my grandmother and I would go out and pick Pussy Willows. When we would get home grandma would trim the ends and put our bouquet in a vase on the table. We always picked a few extra branches that I could color with my markers. So mixed in with the grey pussy willows were pink ones, blue ones, yellow ones and many other colors. When ever I see pussy willows they remind me of times spent with my grandmother in the spring.

All the Junco's in our yard singing away and gathering food and next material are another welcome sign of spring. I waited patiently to get the best picture I could of them.

Yesterday afternoon I set out with my camera in hand to go for a walk. I was very soon joined by our family dog - Timon. It proved to be a good day for him for getting his picture taken, I took many different pictures as the opportunity presented itself.

This mound of snow that Timon is standing at is the last of the snow that I could find. This particular spot seems to hold the snow the longest. I can remember seeing a small patch of snow here near the beginning of June a few years back.

Timon faithfully following along with me. Each time I stopped to take a photo he would stop there with me.

This is one of my favorite photos of Timon. A squirrel chattering away in the tree caught his attention. Timon never wanders away from from me when we are walking, he is a great companion to take on a walk...willing to go where you....always in site.

Stopping to rest while I try to get some pictures of the songbirds in the trees. I was so impressed that he waited so patiently, not once did he dart off after the birds. It was a most enjoyable walk yesterday afternoon with my faithful companion - Timon. The weather was good, not too cold, the sun was shining and the birds were singing.

Thursday, 23 April 2009

This morning as I was walking out to my car I seemed to really notice signs of springs. There was a flock of birds singing away in the cattle pasture across the road. Not sure what kind of birds but they sounded wonderful.

The Pussy Willows have been in bloom for a couple of weeks now. Yesterday on my drive home I stopped to take some pictures of the Pussy Willows, unfortunately I didn't get chance to pull them off my camera. I also missed the opportunity to get a photo of a pair of nesting Mallard ducks last night...there was a lot of traffic behind me on the highway so I decided to keep that picture in my memory and hope that I can find the chance to get a photo of them another day, maybe this weekend.

This morning I really noticed that a lot of the trees are in bud as well, especially all the Poplar Trees.

Even my flower garden is showing signs of life. My Iris's are about 4 inches maybe 6 inches up. The Delphiniums are up about 2 inches and the peonies are starting to poke out of the ground.

Yes Spring is here, even my dog ran into a sign of spring the other day.....that's right he smelt of the ever not so pleasant odor of a skunk, not strong enough that he was sprayed directly but walked through the spray area shortly after.

Wednesday, 22 April 2009

On April 22 of each year Canada along with many other countries celebrate Earth Day. Earth Day is the largest, most celebrated environmental event worldwide

Today I brought my camera to work with me as I want to stop along my way home and take some pictures of Mother Nature budding into Spring. I was just about to snap a really nice picture of 2 new calves beside a broken tree, and just I lifted my camera they ran off to find their mothers.

A local couple here in PA are building their home off the Grid. You can check out their website by clicking on ECOARK Very interesting to see what they are doing and what they have done. Be sure to check out the link for New Photos.

Al's Place....the newest hotel in Stony Rapids. Al's Place opened their doors for business August 1, 2004. I took these pictures on Wednesday morning before I went for breakfast. I look forward to the next time I visit Stony Rapids as the hospitality at Al's Place was excellent.

Below is the veiw from my room. When I arrived on Monday night there was no snow on the trees. The next morning I woke to the beautiful wintery scene.

The following pictures are of the view from the dinning room at the hotel.

The pictures in my opinion do not do the view justice. Al was telling me that during the summer you can't see any thing but trees and the hills in the distance. If you click on the pictures to enlargen them you can see a couple of homes through the trees.

Monday, 13 April 2009

Well after waiting all morning, I now have flight to Stony Rapids....actually I had 2 flights to Stony. One the scheduled flight with TransWest Air and the other with Northern Air Operations charter that I was supposed to take this morning. The pilot decided he would give it at try and see if we got into Stony Rapids. I will be there for two nights so I should have lots of time to see the area and get some pictures.

I arrived at the Prince Albert Tanker Base with time to spare this morning, my flight was to depart at 8am for Stony Rapids. By 8:15am they informed me that the plane hadn't left LaRonge yet due to fog and was estimating that they wouldn't be departing there until about 10am. So my hubby came to my rescue and brought me back to the office, they will call me when the plane is on route to PA....figured I might as well wait at the office than sit at the tanker base all morning.

I had a feeling this morning that my flight would be delayed due to fog...it was pretty thick here this morning as well. Good thing was I was able to get some coffee this morning...was thinking I would have to wait until I got to Stony Rapids before I would be able to have a coffee. As I write this I should have been landing in Stony...oh well better late than never!

Sunday, 12 April 2009

What does Easter mean to you? If you were to ask a little one they would probably tell that Easter means when the Easter Bunny comes to the house and hides eggs and chocolate bunnies to find. Ask someone who has a strong faith in God and you will receive a much different answer.

The meaning of Easter is Jesus Christ's victory over death. His resurrection symbolizes the eternal life that is granted to all who believe in Him. The meaning of Easter also symbolizes the complete verification of all that Jesus preached and taught during His three-year ministry. If He had not risen from the dead, if He had merely died and not been resurrected, He would have been considered just another teacher or Rabbi. However, His resurrection changed all that and gave final and irrefutable proof that He was really the Son of God and that He had conquered death once and for all.

However, Easter did not always symbolize Christ's resurrection from the dead and the meaning of Easter was quite different than what Christians celebrate today. The feast day of Easter was originally a pagan celebration of renewal and rebirth. Celebrated in the early spring, it honored the pagan Saxon goddess Eastre. When the early missionaries converted the Saxons to Christianity, the holiday, since it fell around the same time as the traditional memorial of Christ's resurrection from the dead, was merged with the pagan celebration, and became know as Easter. The meaning of Easter was also changed to reflect its new Christian orientation.

Today, the meaning of Easter, for million of Christians, is that of honoring and recognizing Jesus Christ's resurrection from the dead, and His glorious promises of eternal life for all who believe in Him.

Thursday, 9 April 2009

When our son was just a toddler my husband used to love watching Fraggle Rock with Michael. Even I enjoyed the show, one of my favorite characters was Uncle Travelling Matt. Well this past week I feel a bit like Unlce Travelling Matt, Tuesday I had the opportunity to travel to La Ronge to meet with the Fire Centre Staff there and on Monday I am heading north to Stony Rapids for 2 days. I am taking a charter plane with Ministry of Environment Northern Air Operations at 8am Monday and flying out with Transwest Tuesday evening. One of the first things I am packing in my camera...I know it might not be that scenic as far as leaves on the trees and such but I don't know if I will ever have the opportunity to vist Stony Rapids again so I plan to make the best of my time there.

I have heard from so many people what a beautiful place it is to visit and I am very grateful for the opportunity my job has given me to travel there and work for 2 days. I am hoping that I may have the opportunity again in the summer to visit Stony Rapids as well as the other Fire Bases I take care of, Southend, Pelican Narrows/Denare Beach and LaRonge. Maybe I will have the opportunity when there is a fire happening so I can see some of the action. One never knows what opportunities will land in our laps.

I will post some pictures from my trip here for you to see when I get back.

Monday, 6 April 2009

April 6th is National Tartan Day. This is a North American commemoration of Scottish heritage celebrated in Canada and the United States of America. A celebration of heritage, music and good fellowship to mark Tartan Day, which is marked officially on April 6. There are many celebrations being held across Canada and the USA today in honor of National Tartan Day.

Our Relay For Life Team - The Studs & Peelers (think Forestry Terms everyone) celebrated the day with a fundraiser of selling Scottish Shortbread throughout the day as well as encouraging everyone to dress in plaid. To mark the occasion everyone dressed in plaid posed for a picture in the Atrium of The Saskatchewan Forest Centre building. I forgot to bring my camera to work with me this morning but Sharon was kind enough to send me a picture in the email. Thanks for the picture Sharon.

To see more photos from the day celebrated by the staff at Ministry of Environment Forest Service check out Sharon's blog by clicking HERE. She will be posting more photos from the festivities later this evening.

We all have decisions to make each and every day, sometimes they are fairly easy and other times they are more difficult. For the last month I have been wrestling with ideas of what I want to do with my hair. Part of me wants to make a drastic change and possibly go really short and another part of me is not so willing to go that far. I have talk to my daughter for their ideas on what I should do and they both tell me keep the length....so I guess it is time to go see my hair dresser and talk with him and come up with a plan of what to do. As for color I don't mind experimenting but definitely I try to stay away from anything really red (my hubby is not crazy about red hair). Made Al a promise years ago to not dye my hair red as long as he promised not to really piss me off again. Yes my revenge was dying my hair red and wearing a purple shirt...the two things he really hates red hair and purple clothing. I must confess with being vertically challenged I do like to add some height with my hair, you could say I am a fan of big hair.....maybe not as big as we used to wear in the 1980's but do like some lift in my hair. Yes I think the best choice is to go talk with Gord and come up with an idea and go from there.

Friday, 3 April 2009

Not much going on the last few days...other than I am tired. You know how fresh air makes you tired, wondering if I got too much on the weekend or if I am reading to late at night....thinking it might be the reading until 11pm and them up between 5:30 and 6:00 am.

I am so glad to see the snow melting at the rate it is. Spring is definatley here...soon the trees will be in bud, the geese and ducks will arrive soon along with the many other signs of spring. I look forward to being able to enjoy all these things on my walks this spring.

We're going to start back into our home renovations over the next couple of weeks. We had Ener-Guide come and do the assessment, now we have 18 months to complete the work. So windows, doors, insulation and new siding all need to be ordered soon. So many decisions to make...the biggest hurdle we face is the color of the siding as my husband and I have completely different ideas on that.

Need to finish up my seed list for the garden, make a quick trip to Saskatoon to Early's to pick everything up. My bedding out plants I will get here in PA. Hmmm wonder if I could convince my husband that we should have a green house....maybe should leave that one alone until the house reno's are completed.

All my house plants need to be re-potted. They should have been done last year but alas I never got around to it....definitely need doing this year as my plants are not as healthy as they could be.

We need to order our chickens and turkeys as well. Will have to try and do that this weekend. Oh so many things to do and so little time, isn't that the way it always seems to be.